The Boarding House

Dinner and Fireflies

About ten minutes later, a black Mustang came into view. Joey's heart raced knowing it had to be Bobby. It looked like a car Bobby would drive; sleek, black, and loud. The typical young mechanic car.

Sure enough, as the Mustang slowly moved up the long gravel drive, Bobby came into view behind the steering wheel. Joey walked towards the vehicle before it came to a complete stop. Opening the passenger door, he crawled in next to Bobby, every cell in him wanted to reach over and kiss Bobby. He decided against being so forward, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"Hey Bobby." He said instead, smiling ear to ear while buckling himself into his seat.

Never turning the engine off, Bobby responded with a hello and put the car in reverse. Going to the dated farm town wasn't a long drive but the small talk flowed effortlessly between them.

Just before they came to the business district of the small town, Bobby took a left off of Main Street and drove a couple more blocks before effortlessly parallel parking in front of a single building with a row of storefronts and doors.

Before long the two young men were sitting across from each other, each enjoying their dinner between the conversation in the fanciest restaurant the town had to offer, decorated in Sicilian motif with soft accordion music playing in the background.

"How's your food?" Bobby inquired after taking a drink of his cola.

"Mmm, it's yummy! Thank you."

"After we finish here, can I take you somewhere?" Bobby asked trying to act coy.

He's too cute! "I'm yours for as long as you want me." Joey answered flashing a flirty smile back to the other man. "Take me anywhere you want to."

Forever? "Perfect!" Bobby declared with a big cheesy grin lighting up his face.

Back in the car after dinner, Bobby wheeled the Mustang back out onto Main Street, turning in the opposite direction of the house Joey was staying in. They drove on for a while, past Charlie's garage, leaving the little town behind them before Bobby veered left onto a winding gravel road.

"Ya taking me out to the middle of nowhere so people can't hear me scream?" Joey poured sarcasm into his question.

Smiling back at Joey's dramatic question, "I'm taking you to my favorite place in this town."

A short time later, the car turned onto what looked like a tractor path into a field. The sun was setting behind them and little lights flickered just over the top of the tall grass. "I call it Firefly Field." Bobby offered, showing all the signs of a very attractive country innocence.

Joey watched the lightning bugs dancing in the wind, glowing and dimming as they bobbed haphazardly around the tall grass. Trees lined one side of the field where it looked like fairy lights were hung, from the flashing fireflies. The rest was open as far as he could see in the dimming light.

"It looks just like a fairytale setting." Joey thought out loud.

Bobby got out of the car and walked to the back where he opened the truck. Joey followed his lead as Bobby dug through some things and pulled out a folded blanket and a grocery bag.

Back in front of the Mustang, hidden from the dirt road, Bobby spread the blanket on the ground. "I thought we could sit here and talk, watch the fireflies as the sun sets and have a couple drinks." Bobby reached into the bag and pulled out two bottles of beer, opening one and handing it to Joey.

"I like it!" Joey confirmed, lifting the bottle to his mouth and taking a drink. "Do ya come here a lot?"

"Yeah. Kinda." Bobby answered looking around. "I come here to get away from the BS from time to time. Sometimes I just need to escape my dad." He shrugged off the honesty of his thought.